Police warned over snooping on journalists as Tories plan protections for free press

Police were today warned by the Culture Secretary not to misuse laws designed to fight “the corrupt and the crooked” to unmask newspaper whistleblowers.

“The right to keep sources anonymous is the bedrock of investigative journalism,” declared Sajiv Javid in a speech to the Society of Editors.

“Without it, the corrupt and the crooked sleep easier in their beds. It’s a sacrosanct principle and one that the authorities need a damn good reason to interfere with.”

His comments followed two high profile cases where detectives secretly accessed data to discover who had been passing information to newspapers about senior politicians accused of wrongdoing.

Detectives obtained phone records of journalists to see who tipped them off that former Cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell had an altercation with officers on duty at Downing Street.

And police investigating whether Cabinet minister Chris Huhne lied to avoid speeding points scoured phone records of a journalist and one of his sources, even though a judge had earlier agreed that the source could remain confidential.

Mr Javid also promised protection for journalists and the free press in a new British Bill of Rights which David Cameron plans to bring in.

Mr Javid hailed the freedom of the press as “one of the fundamental liberties on which modern Britain was built”, and said that newspaper journalists were “the right people - the only people - to take the lead on developing and enforcing a new set of press standards”.

Home Secretary Theresa May last month announced a review of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa), which is the law used to obtain the phone records.